


As long as it takes

by Ohsoprecious



Series: Vexeris Trevelyan [16]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Leaving Skyhold, M/M, No Trespasser DLC, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition, Promises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:49:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29879316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohsoprecious/pseuds/Ohsoprecious
Summary: Dorian leaves Skyhold, heading for Tevinter. Vex has a few things to say first, though.
Relationships: Dorian Pavus/Male Trevelyan, Male Inquisitor/Dorian Pavus
Series: Vexeris Trevelyan [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/318137
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

"So, you're leaving?"

"Not right this second, amatus. But soon. I've....it's time."

Dorian doesn't need to look at him to know his pain. It's a mirror of his own, a gut clenching feeling that's been right there, underneath it all, for some time.  
But he'd delayed long enough. Thirteen months, to be exact.

At first it was too soon. Then it became too soon for him, wanting just a week more, a day more, with _him_ , with the man he is completely and utterly in love with.  
Pretty soon Dorian realized, that it would always be too soon.  
Because a lifetime together wouldn't be enough.

He wanted more. Dorian wanted all of it. A life, together, with it's up and downs.  
But he couldn't. Not with this hanging over them.

For a time he's even entertained the idea of staying. Of leaving Tevinter to it's corruption and contempt.  
He couldn't. This was something he needed to do. Not only for himself or for his country.  
Dorian needed to feel like he accomplished something. Like he deserved to be by the side of the most powerful man in Thedas.

"When?"

"A couple of weeks. That should be enough to organize the journey."

Vex is keeping a carefully neutral expression on his face, hiding whatever he's thinking, feeling, and Dorian knows it's as much for his benefit as for himself.

Vex knows he could guilt him into staying. He almost did, once.

"All right. I have a few demands, though, if I'm going to let you leave."

Dorian wants to comment on that "let him" statement, but he doesn't get a chance. Vex has his Inquisitor face on and is keeping his hand upwards, ready to enumerate his points.

"I'm going to come with you, to the border. Or at least across the sea. There's no way I'm letting you suffer through the crossing alone. Second, where are you going to live? Thirdly, I'm going to sic a few spies to protect you, at all times."

He is about to protest, yet again.

"I won't....if they so much as hurt a single hair on your body, I will raze Tevinter to the ground. Make sure that _that_ is clear."

He means it. Maker, he means every word. The intensity of his gaze leaves Dorian no doubt, making him swallow.  
Between the Inquisition's massive army and all the other nations that jump at his word alone, the threat is a lot more than empty.

"I will also have Josephine send the same message across, but she's going to be much more subtle about it."

"Vex...."

"Don't start again with that "Vex" thing you do. I know you want to do this alone. I won't pry into your business. But I won't let the love of my life get himself killed, because a few magister's are enjoying bleeding and summoning demons too much, to accept change."

Vexeris realizes what he's just admitted, only a few silent seconds later.  
Dorian wants to cry. He can feel his eyes moistening, just beneath the surface of his eyelids, as pain and happiness intertwine inside if him.  
He doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want to....the thought he could lose him, this amazing man...it's too much.

It takes him a breath to come closer to Vex, pressing himself against him, crushing him against his body, giving him tear filled kisses, first on his neck, then on his mouth, murmuring those three words it took him a year of bliss to say, between breaths.

"Dorian...," he says, his voice pained, letting his feelings break through, for the first time since this conversation started.

The mage looks him in the eyes, those beautiful azure eyes and smiles, because he loves this man, because he makes him so happy he can hardly breathe at times, because he could've chosen a thousand more worthy men than a runaway Tevinter mage and yet he didn't. He could name a hundred more reasons why this man makes him smile.

"I love you. I love you so much, Vex."

The rogue smiles, pressing delicate kisses on Dorian's temple, keeping him locked into the embrace. On any other day, Dorian would have complained about the death grip, but not now, not when he needs to feel him, every inch of him, as close as he possibly can.

"Here I had this whole speech prepared. And now you've...."

"Gone and made the powerful evil magister cry?" he finishes for him, his attempt at humor failing, because the most he can manage is a small sad smile.

"What did you want to say?" he asks, slowly caressing Dorian's cheek, wiping away his tears, a soft look spreading across his face.

Dorian looks away. He's tried to come up with the proper way to say this, to ask him for days. And now Vex has ruined all his plans with his confession and it's making this so much harder that he expected.....

"I wanted to.....I know shouldn't ask you to....wait. Not when this could take me years. When I can't even give you a.....prospect, a time limit. But I....."

Vex looks at him, his face shifting between amusement and disbelief. A face he's seen too often, after that first time, in Vex's, _their_ , quarters, when, by some miracle, Dorian found the courage to ask for _more_.

"You don't need to ask me. I'll wait. However long it takes for you to come home."

Dorian sobs, pressing himself even more against him, if that is even possible. The relief he feels staggers him, the promise of still having him, still having a place to return to, fills him with joy.

He knows he will wait himself. Even if, somehow Vex had refused to do the same for him, Dorian would wait. Because he knows that he's never going to find someone like Vex again, someone that completes him so fully, that makes him feel so safe and wanted, cherished and understood. That irritates him, but in all the right ways to make him secretly laugh.  
That drags him to the most horrible places on Thedas, but takes the time to buy him fur lined clothes for the snow.  
Someone that laughs when people tell him he should get rid of the magister in his bed and tells them to shove it, making his ambassador pale at his crude words.  
A man that kisses him in front of the Empress of Orlais and is proud of it, while Dorian himself is red all the way to his toes, wishing he could disappear under all those withering glares.

"I have something for you," Dorian says, his voice trembling slightly, his throat still thick and sore.

"Is it something naughty?"

He tries to chuckle, but all that comes out is a choked rumble.

The mage disentangles himself from the embrace, reaching for Vex's hand, briefly passing his thumb on his palm. He used to dislike calluses, when he was young. It was a lower class mark, the sign of someone working with his hands. Now, everything is different. For a brief moment he wishes they'd kept Alexius's amulet. He wishes he could go back in time, tell his younger self to never lose hope, that real love did indeed exist, outside of children stories and books. Or possibly go to Ostwick and find Vexeris sooner.

The amulet he places in Trevelyan's hand is heavy, as his hand dips slightly. And he recognizes it immediately.

A golden snake, curving on itself enough times to form an arrow-like shape, with small emeralds as it's eyes, all held up with a simple thin gold necklace. His birthright. The one precious thing he owned.

"Dorian, this is....I can't take this."

"You can. And you have to."

He wants to say that he needs Vex to have it. That he's not giving it to him just because it's the only thing he owns aside from clothes and staves. It's not only because it's the thing that made Dorian decide to get it over with, to sleep with him and get thrown out, before the Inquisitor damaged his reputation beyond repair.  
It's because it's _his_. It's a part of him and he wants to, no he _needs_ to know, that while he's away, there's a part of him that's with Vex.

"Birthrights are infused with the owners blood, to prevent fakes. I thought....."  
"Don't you need it? Isn't this very important in Tevinter?"

"I have a copy. It won't survive someone checking it, but I'll get another one before then. But this one is...it's what brought us together."

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't an amulet that made me fall for you," he says, grinning," but I get what you mean."

Vexeris plucks the amulet, immediately tying it around his neck, the golden cord a bit too short for the taller man.  
Dorian gulps, seeing his birthright on Trevelyan gives him a far more intense feeling that he thought. He wishes he had the courage to tell him that presenting a birthright was Tevinter's way of proposing marriage. Even though it wasn't done this way anymore, anyone versed in their society would know.  
It wasn't what he was proposing either. He just wanted him to have it.  
Dorian just wanted a promise. The promise that, unless something happened to them, he had a home, a love to return to.

And if, somehow, he died, at least a small part of him would be there.

Dorian caresses the amulet, tracing the snake's spires with his fingers, smiling at it, before planting a kiss on Vex's lips.

"Well, now I feel like an ass for not having anything meaningful to give you. For someone with access to the Inquisitions coffers I don't own much. And I'm pretty sure my mother burned everything I owned back in Ostwick."

The mage scoffs. He doesn't need anything from him, at least anything material. In fact he went to great lengths to never ask him for anything. Vexeris had never gifted him anything, outside of books he needed or equipment Dorian used while traipsing around southern Thedas with him.

"All I need is your promise you'll write. I know how easily distracted you are."

"No, I'm not! _You_ are the one that's always distracting me."

Dorian grins, a smile the rogue easily reciprocates for a moment, before he turns serious again, cupping the mage's cheek.

"I need you to promise me you'll be careful. No unnecessary risks. This is going to be hard enough. I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

His eyes are full of adoration and worry, a look Dorian is likely sporting himself, as he takes hold of the hand in his cheek, tightening his grip around it.

"I'm sure you'll manage," he says, overcoming the lump in his throat.

"With nobody to yell at me when I get injured? Or bribes my advisors away? Hardly."

Dorian looks away. He can't....no, he must. If he doesn't he'll always wonder.  
"A year," he says, finally," give me a year. If there's no progress, no change, no opening of some kind, I'll come back and tell them they can screw themselves. And even if there is....I hope I'll have found somebody to bring the change along. Someone more suited than a pariah like me."

Vexeris gives him a long look, the mage practically hearing the metaphorical gears turning inside his head.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want me there?"

"Yes," he says immediately," I can't take you away from here. Not when you can finally have a good life, away from the Trevelyans, instead of being a smuggler."

Vexeris sighs, his shoulders hunched in defeat, looking away for just a moment.

"Fine, then. Have it your way. Now, how to make the most of the time we still have?"

"I'm sure we'll come up with something," he responds, a bit of good mood restored.

Dorian feels lighter, after this conversation. And with his amulet dangling from the Inquisitor's neck he hopes he's gotten what he wanted too.

He only hopes he'll really get to keep him.


	2. Chapter 2

_Dorian,_   
_By the time you read this, it's probably been two weeks from now. No matter. I promised I'd write, so I am. I've just gotten back to Skyhold, after leaving you at the border._   
_I've skillfully managed to avoid the questions of the gossip mongers. So far. That's not going to last long. Reasons for your disappearance are rampant._   
_I won't tell you about them, so don't ask. I get enough grief from Sera. Varric is of course, fueling some of them himself. As usual, he's not being exactly helpful._   
_Also I've bullied the crew of the ship into silence, just as you wanted. Never let it be said I don't do anything for you._   
_Sera says hello, by the way. Well, she's actually making a lot of dirty jokes and lewd suggestions, while I write this. Apparently now that there's no more risk of walking in on us, she's stashes her things here. I'm almost afraid to look. This morning I found a dead rat, and I got yelled at for throwing it away. She needed it. Should I warn Josie?_   
_I hope you don't have too much fun, in the civilized North._   
_Cause I'm miserable here. I miss you, and it's only been a week._   
_Love,_   
_Vexeris_

"Is that from him?"

Dorian looks up, Maeveris's face coming into view.

"How can you tell?"

"My dear, you should look in a mirror. You're smiling like a lovesick puppy."

He rolls his eyes, ignoring her comment.

"Yes, it's from the Inquisitor," he says, instead of taking a jab at her in revenge, " now, if you'll excuse me, I need to answer. Or else, he'll have his spies hide all the wine in this house."

She gives him an amused smile, but he doesn't miss the fondness in her eyes. She is perhaps the only one in Tevinter he can trust. Not only that, she's one of the few people he's met, who seems happy about his relationship with the Inquisitor. Not because of his position, but simply because she was happy that Dorian had found someone.


End file.
